NR | 1h 52m | Drama | 2024
Malcolm Caldwell could be considered the Walter Duranty of Cambodia. In much the same way Duranty covered up Stalin’s genocidal policies targeting Ukrainians (known as the Holodomor) in his New York Times reports, Caldwell notoriously sanitized the Khmer Rouge’s mass murder of its people.
Yet the Scottish “journalist” was murdered by the communist regime mere hours after he interviewed dictator Pol Pot. To this day, Elizabeth Becker, one of two journalists traveling with Caldwell, cannot explain why the regime killed such a servile apologist.
Frankly, she cautions against any attempt to plumb the depths of the Khmer Rouge’s madness. Her account of that fateful interview inspired Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh’s “Meeting With Pol Pot.”
Unhealthy Risks
Panh and Pierre Erwan Guillaume’s thinly fictionalized screenplay transforms Caldwell and Becker into Alain Cariou (Grégoire Colin) and Lise Delbo (Irène Jacob), respectively, two French journalists traveling with their photographer, Paul Thomas (Cyril Gueï).Cariou is an ardent leftist who takes pride in his student friendships at the Sorbonne with several high-ranking Khmer Rouge officials. Cluelessly, he fails to recognize how his references to their advanced Western educations endanger their safety under the new order.
In contrast, (the entirely fictional) Thomas has a healthy skepticism that spurs him to take unhealthy risks. As soon as possible, he slips away from the regime’s minders, hoping to find a real, unvarnished collective farm that was not pre-prepared for the journalists’ benefit. Soon, he finds evidence of communist atrocities. Then he disappears.
Initially, Delbo’s attitude splits the difference between her two colleagues. She hopes there is a kernel of truth in the Potemkin peasant projects they constantly visit. However, she is deeply alarmed by Thomas’s disappearance and disgusted by Cariou’s cavalier response. Nevertheless, she has little choice, but to wait for the mysterious Pol Pot (an uncredited Rithy Panh) to finally summon them for their promised interview.
Firsthand Experience
While based in Paris, Panh has become the foremost filmmaker documenting the Cambodian genocide. It is a subject that hits close to home, because Panh’s parents, nephews, and little sister all died during the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror.He told their heartbreaking stories in his innovative documentary “The Missing Picture,” which recreated their tragic lives with the help of traditional clay figurines. Panh employs similar clay figures in “Meeting With Pol Pot,” but mostly as a transitional device.
In a departure, “Meeting With Pol Pot” largely focuses on Western characters, in a way that becomes a damning indictment of the ideological corruption of journalism. Cariou’s self-debasement is almost stomach-churning, but it is only too believable.
Corrupted Journalist
Despite the off-putting obsequiousness, there is something profoundly sad and pitifully human about Colin’s portrayal of Cariou. He desperate yearns for the comrades’ approval. His need to justify his dogma, at any cost, blinds him to the evidence of his senses. Indeed, Colin’s depiction of the Caldwell stand-in is particularly valuable, because it illuminates the self-deception of the “true believer” personality.
Jacob’s performance as Delbo also constitutes some of her best work since her classic collaborations with Krzysztof Kieslowski in “The Double Life of Véronique” and “Three Colors: Red.” It is a subtle performance. She keenly expresses Delbo’s growing horror and revulsion as she starts to fully understand the nature of the regime and Cariou’s corruption. Similarly, Gueï provides a refreshingly grounded and relatable perspective as Thomas, so his sudden absence is quite jarring.
Throughout it all, Panh eerily recreates the Khmer Rouge era in terrifying detail. The film shows the mud and the muck of the reeducation camps and the ominously empty streets of streets of Phnom Penh after the entire population was forcibly expelled to the countryside. Panh creates an atmosphere of hothouse paranoia, while evoking a tactile sense of the stifling humidity.
“Meeting With Pol Pot” is both an artistic triumph and a withering indictment of the extremist, collectivist mindset. It is timely in an era of the increasing aggression of authoritarian regimes, which are deeply compromised by media outlets.
Panh’s fact-based drama is a reminder that denying the truth often entails deadly consequences. Very highly recommended.
